Whatever happened to the British 'B' movie? Micro-budget film-making and the death of the one-hour supporting feature in the early 1960s
Whatever happened to the British 'B' movie? Micro-budget film-making and the death of the one-hour supporting feature in the early 1960s
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英国“B”级电影到底发生了什么？
DOI：
10.1080/01439685.2016.1220765
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发表时间：
2016
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Mayne L
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Mayne L
从战后到20世纪60年代初，这部英国的B级电影处于鼎盛时期。B级电影是一部时长约一小时的廉价故事片，与《First》剧情片一起放映，作为电影院双账单节目的一部分。但到了1963年，英国电影公司停止了第二部电影的制作，原因有很多：由于制作成本上升，第二部电影在商业上不再可行；在美国公司制作更高预算、更华丽的电影时，第二部电影的质量受到了极大的诋毁；到20世纪60年代初，电视制作的低成本犯罪剧受到了B级电影制片人的青睐。然而，这部B级电影的过世让一些人感到悲痛，他们认为这部电影可能会成为本土电影行业人才的培训基地，而本土电影行业几乎没有为电影制作人提供机会。一些影院放映商还担心，B级票房的下降将如何影响主要影院的双重账单。这篇文章将考察导致英国B级电影在20世纪60年代初衰落的事件，认为这种制作模式的消亡可以揭示20世纪60年代英国电影业的结构，同时也强调了电影制片人在这十年中面临的一些挑战。
The British ‘B’ movie had its heyday from the post-war period up until the early 1960s. ‘B’ movies were cheap feature films of around one-hour long which were shown along with ‘first’ features as part of cinema double-bill programmes. But by 1963, British film companies had ceased production of second features for a number of reasons: they were no longer commercially viable due to rising production costs, their quality was much maligned at a time when American companies were producing higher budget, glossier fare, and by the early 1960s television was producing the kinds of low-budget crime dramas favoured by ‘B’ movie producers. However, the passing of the ‘B’ movie was mourned by some, who had seen it as a potential training ground for talent in an indigenous industry which offered few routes in for film-makers. Some cinema exhibitors also worried about how the decline of the ‘B’s would affect the staple cinema double bill. This article will examine the events which led to the decline of the British ‘B’ movie in the early 1960s, arguing that the demise of this production mode can shed light on the structure of the British film industry in the 1960s, as well as highlighting some of the challenges which faced film producers throughout the decade.